Bombing Puts County In Spotlight

May 01, 1990|By DAVID CHERNICKY Staff Writer

In rural Bladen County, N.C., Sheriff Earl Storm doesn't remember a case that placed this normally tranquil community in the national spotlight more than the investigation of the two mail bombings at the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach on Friday and one in January at a church in Houston.

"I was trying to think back over the years and I don't recall any other case that brought this much publicity and this many federal agents here," said Storm, who has been sheriff since 1978 and was a deputy for 11 years before that.

A federal task force comprised of investigators from the U.S. Postal Service in Charlotte and Raleigh, and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, has invaded this county 35 miles east of Fayetteville because two post offices 10 miles apart are where authorities say the two mail bombs orginated.

Postal Investigator Judith Groome said the mail bomb that exploded in Houston was delivered Jan. 30 to Lakewood Church, headquarters for televangelist John Osteen. Osteen's daughter was burned when the parcel exploded as she opened it, Groome said.

She said investigators believed that bomb was dropped off on or about Jan. 26 at the post office at Elizabethtown, N.C., 10 miles from Bladenboro, where someone mailed the bomb that exploded at CBN on Friday, injuring a security guard.

Authorities say they have reason to believe the bombings are connected because both packages had Fayetteville return addresses.

Sam Lewis, BATF agent in charge of the Fayetteville office, said the task force there is one of three task forces involved in the case. A task force comprised of BATF agents, postal investigators, Virginia Beach police and fire departments and Virginia State Police is probing the CBN incident, and another task force is working in Houston.

"Our investigation is gaining momentum by the sheer energy and effort," Lewis said. He said a $50,000 reward from the Postal Service has generated some response but he declined to elaborate. The toll-free number to call if anyone has information is 1-800-535-9542.

In size, Bladen County is the state's fourth largest, covering 900 square miles, Storm said. About a third of its 32,000 residents are crop farmers, growing tobacco, soybeans, corn and peanuts. "It's a tobaco area mostly," he said.

Although Bladen County, like most of the nation, has not escaped the illicit drug trade, the sheriff says the crime rate is low. "We got more than we need, but nothing out of hand. No epidemic or anything."

At Robertson's television ministry Monday, CBN spokeswoman Frankie Abourjilie said the mood was upbeat and positive.

At a noon prayer meeting, Robertson told a gathering of followers that they should be alert and careful, but not let acts directed at the ministry intimidate them, Abourjilie said. "This is not going to stop our ministry from doing preaching the gospel," she said.

"Most people on the outside see a ministry as very low-profile and non-hazardous. That's never been true with the CBN ministry. We have a very high profile and that makes us vulnerable worldwide," she said, adding that CBN also operates two Christian television stations in Lebanon that have been the targets of past bombings.

Scott Scheepers, the 33-year-old security guard injured by the bomb at CBN, was released from the hospital Monday. Scheepers was at his home in Poquoson recovering from bruises and shrapnel wounds in his left leg.

Abourjilie said CBN plans no changes in its mail-handling operation. "We receive annually about 20 million pieces of mail, or 385,000 a week. Of those, three, four or five pieces a week are referred to security because they contain threats or appear suspicious. None have ever been explosive," Abourjilie said.